Category: Fourre-tout

A little bit of everything

Putting nonagenarians on trial

Oskar-Groning4“In September 2014, 94 years old SS sergeant Oskar Gröning was put on trial as an accessory to murder in 300,000 cases, for his role at the Auschwitz concentration camp.”

Does it make any sense? Putting a one-foot-in-the-grave very minor Nazi underling on trial?

Yes and No.
Yes, because there should be no statute of limitation for crimes against humanity.

No, because this man has only a few more months (?) to live, has escaped punishment through most of his life and putting him in jail would be more of a burden to society than punishment.

So what can you do with such a man?groening5

Put him in jail for the rest of his life? Or let him get away with murder?
Difficult to say.
At least Gröning recognized his guilt and showed some contrition.

According to the UK The Telegraph:

“Of the 6,500 former SS members who served at Auschwitz and survived the war, only 49 have ever been convicted by a German court.”

49 out 6500!

Who are we kidding here?

Right after the end of World War Two, surviving Germans were reluctant to bring anybody to trial.
Since most of them had been ardent Nazis supporters and did not want to attract undue attention to themselves, they found it more convenient to ignore or absolve their former partners in crime.
So they all embraced a general omertà and did not rat on each other for fear of getting implicated themselves.

All the very few parties brought to trial were invariably:

  • “declared unfit for trial by prosecutors in Germany”
  • “medically unfit to be punished”
  • “found unfit for trial due to dementia”
  • “because he is very old and does not pose danger to society”

Now, a younger generation not burdened by the horrors of World War Two, has the gumption to bring guilty parties to trial.

But how many Nazi monsters are there left? Most of them are now where they belong: under 6 feet of dirt.

The big fishes (through various connections – very often on the American side) managed to escape justice and openly lived in Germany often rising to managerial positions.
If you managed 6 millions jews efficiently during the war, you have got to be a good manager!

The only reason to bring such men to trial is to remind younger people “what evil lurks in the heart of men.”
Given a chance, a mild mannered fellow can easily turn into a murderous fanatic.

Beware of political extremists of all creeds. They are all one and the same. Bloodthirsty madmen. And what happened in Germany 75 years ago could easily anywhere. Absolutely anywhere!

Be vigilant (especially during election times) and don’t let anybody convince you otherwise.

Alain

Some like it mellow

You cannot shouldn’t wear everything you like.

Yesterday while slumming at Starbucks (peeping at the girls, drinking coffee and munching on a permanently stale croissant) an older shorts-wearing dude caught my eye.
Big ass, skinny legs, non-descript jacket… It was not a pretty sight!
Somebody should have made a citizen’s arrest… or at least alerted the fashion police…

Kate-Upton-2You are of course, entitled to wear what you please, but what looks good on somebody else doesn’t necessarily look good on you, and vice-versa.
If Kate Upton looks good alluring smoking hot in a bikini, it does not mean that men will fall all over a woman if she wears the same outfit.

The French say “the cloth does not the monk make”, but what you wear tells a lot about you and has a way of opening or closing doors.

Fashion icon Miuccia Prada said:

“What you wear is how you present yourself to the world.”

 And she is right.

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Clothes above all are supposed to enhance, not to undermine your appearance.

When you go shopping for new duds, it is a good idea to take along an impartial observer.
Somebody who will tell you without any hesitation if you look dowdy, fat, old, skinny, ridiculous.
Women are good at that. Men not so much.

In my crystal ball, I see the emergence of a Faux-Pas Detector.
It will work like a metal detector and act as a deterrent against flagrant attire blunders.
You will walk through a gate, and if your outfit is unhip, uncool, nerdy, dowdy, frumpy, lame, unsexy, old hat or square, a buzzer will ring and you will be taken aside for a little talk.
You will probably also be added to the “No Fly List” as a threat to fashion and aviation.

To sum it up, when stepping out be aware of your shortcomings and dress accordingly.
Don’t dress too tight (or too loose).
Don’t dress too young (or too old).
Don’t dress too trendy, especially if you are of a certain age.
Don’t show all your tattoos at once and don’t wear too much mascara and black eye liner (especially men).

Above all, have a critical look in the mirror before leaving home.

Please don’t thank me, I like to help.

Alain

https://youtu.be/vnVuqfXohxc

Remote control

IMG_7115Remote control is arguably the best innovation since Sliced Bread, but you should know that a remote control activated device is a double-edged sword.

It is pleasantly convenient but it also comes with very little publicized liability. Unknowingly to you, your device can be highjacked by cyber villains and turned against you.

As recently shown in the news, somebody for example can remotely take control of your car and do whatever he/she wants with it.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I don’t want to sound paranoid, but there are new battlefields and they are nothing like Gettysburg or Waterloo. Little body count but enormous collateral damage.
In the near future, the battles will take place in cyberspace, or in dimly lit rooms.
They already are.

Remote controls are already routinely used by the military.
They are utilized among other things to guide drones and to jam and disable the enemy’s weaponized systems.
Remote controlled devices are also used by insurgents and terrorists to detonate IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices).

But closer to home, somebody can easily take control of your house security system, open your garage door or spy on your computer browsing habits.

This basically means that you have to be vigilant and seriously take into account any unexplained activity happening in your environment.
Especially in your banking institution.

And if you notice anything unusual, be proactive.
Immediately replace the username and password associated with the suspect activity.
I know that it is a pain, but it has to be done.

Personally, I use the Norton Password Generator to create strong 8-10 digits passwords.

“Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don’t let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.”
Clifford Stoll

Remote control, yes (maybe). Sloppy control, beware!

Alain